EDUCATION Secretary Michael Gove’s mum has vowed to give him a clip round the ear for giving cheek to a teacher when he was a pupil.

Christine Gove, 73, said her boy would have been “strung up” if she had known he spent his time at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen asking “clever-dick questions”.

In the Radio Times, the Cabinet Minister apologised for his ­behaviour towards Danny ­Montgomery, who taught him French, and for sitting at the back of the room and being a “pathetic show-off”.

Yesterday, Christine, 73, who lives in Aberdeen with husband Ernest, 76, said: “If I could see Michael now, I’d give him a clip round the lug.

“He would have been strung up if I had known he was being so cheeky. At the time, he never said anything about his attitude and when I heard about it on the radio, I thought, ‘What a monkey’.

“He would get a bit riled at that age but I never thought he was a problem like that at school.”

But Christine admitted she might have trouble getting hold of the Tory politician to give him an earful.

She said: “I can never get in touch with him these days – it just goes through to his answering machine.

“But when I do eventually speak to him, I’ll give him a good telling off.”

Gove, 45, whose plans to reform the exam system outside Scotland have been criticised by unions, said that his apology to his former teacher was “30 years too late”.

He added: “You were trying, patiently, doggedly, good humouredly, to broaden our ­horizons. All we could do was compete to think of clever-dick questions to embarrass you and indulge in pathetic showing-off at your expense.”

Danny said: “Michael is one of a number of former pupils who have flourished in later life.

“I remember the words of one of my colleagues: ‘That boy is a future leader of the ­Conservative Party’.

“He was known for his sharp wit, strongly-held beliefs backed by apparently limitless general knowledge and keen debating skills.

“It was highly gratifying to learn that Michael not only remembers the content of my lessons but also appreciates the wider learning that I was aiming to encourage.”